Check Fit Before Hiring

You've hired an ideal candidate with all the credentials and reputable experience needed to do the job. Although they look good on paper and answered all of your questions correctly, will they fit in with your company?

Work Culture

Whether you've noticed it or not, things happen a certain way at your company. Such as:

People use email instead of meeting in person

Everyone consults a public calendar before scheduling any meeting

Maybe ties and no jeans are the norm or your workplace is extremely casual

Everyone is expected to make an appearance at a weekly happy hour "meeting," or overtime is expected at certain times.

All of these norms and more make up your workplace culture. If someone is opposed to them, how will they succeed or even adjust?

What's Your 'Fit'?

"Organizations differ," says Don Andersson, author of the book Hire for Fit. "Some are hierarchical. Some are collaborative. Each has its own unique stream of priorities."

Job requirements aside, conducting a "fit" screening as part of your recruiting process can determine if a job candidate will succeed at your company, assuming that the candidate is qualified for the position. Andersson suggests creating a list of skills and attitudes that a candidate "must have" and that the organization "would like."

Fit Factors

Here are four Fit Factors that Andersson says companies should evaluate candidates on:

Alignment: The specific contributions required of the candidate to meet corporate goals.

Culture: The politics, values and structure of the organization and how the candidate would fit.

Expectations: Both of the organization and of the candidate (these would change with the job's responsibilities). For example, what are the expectations in terms of:

Managing others?

Resolving differences?

Developing subordinates?

Presenting "bad news"?

Change: How the organization and the candidate respond to change and express resistance to change

No matter what your organization is like, being fully aware of its culture will help you to recruit more successfully.